Linda and I took our daughter Annabelle and our golden retriever, Buster, to Nelson Dewey State Park over Labor Day weekend. The park is near Cassville by the Mississippi River. We booked a site for Friday night through Monday afternoon. We worked a full day. Picked up AB from daycare and headed to the park. You take 151 southwest from Madison to get there. Once you get off of 151 there is still a ways to go. I was cautious driving at night through the country. We got there late and set up in the dark.
They have a handful of different trails to hike. We hiked all of them. Each of them are less than a mile long. It was very doable for Annabelle who is four years old. We saw nice views of the Mississippi River. The trails took us through woods and some prairie on top of a ridge. Parts were paved while others were not. While we were on the ridge, we saw a train coming past below us.
On Saturday we went canoeing through Y’Allbee Tubin on the Grant River. We met at Raisebeck Bridge (County U- Beetown). Linda, Annabelle and Buster waited while Y’Allbee followed me to the end at Udelhoven Bridge (Camel Ridge Rd.) Then they shuttled me back to the start. It was our first time with Buster in a canoe. He was nervous. Buster jumped out of the canoe into the river. He was startled when we went over a rock where the river picked up. In hindsight we should have introduced Buster to boating in a more controlled environment.
Part of the reason Buster was nervous was because he was in the back of the canoe with me. He is more comfortable around Linda. During the workday he lays by her desk at home. Later he crawled up by Linda and relaxed more. We stopped so Linda could have a beer on a small island in the river.
At the first bridge we came to, we got stuck on a rapid. A guy at the river helped move our canoe from the rock. Linda and I debated whether we wanted to stop. There was a beach with a bunch of boats and people. We pulled the canoe on shore. I hopped out and found that our car was actually parked there. It was a good thing we stopped when we did.
We caught the tail end of the sunset on Saturday and Sunday night overlooking the Mississippi River. While we were hiking we came across a couple logs full of mushrooms. I sent my friend AJ a picture of them. He said they were golden oysters. I picked a grocery bag full of them before we left.
On Labor Day, we packed up to leave. On our way out, we stopped for lunch at the entrance to the park. We saw under a tree. While we ate, we watched trains come along the tracks. Annabelle liked seeing the trains come through.
A slight detour on the way home took us to the UW Platteville campus, my alma mater. Linda and I walked the campus with Buster while Annabelle rode her bicycle. I was hoping to walk through a couple buildings. Unfortunately this wasn’t possible as they all required IDs to badge into them now. One thing that really struck me was how young the college students seem to me now. I did that math on it though. I am twice as old as they are.
Before we left, we stopped by the Platteville Mound. The mound is also known as the M. There is a large letter M in the side of the hill made out of rocks. It is 241 feet high, 214 feet wide, with legs 25 feet wide. Stairs lead up the side of it. We hiked up the stairs and spent some time enjoying the view from the top before heading home.